Election hand-count proponents vow legal action in Lawrence County fight

Lawrence County Commission votes to block citizen-led measure to prevent use of machines in voting, ballot counting

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

An effort to force South Dakota’s eighth largest county to count all ballots by hand and rid itself of any technology used in voting saw a major defeat last week.

But a unanimous vote by the Lawrence County Commission to block that citizen-led ballot initiative proposal is not the end of the road for hand-count proponents.

Nicole Braithwaite, a lead petition circulator for the movement to force a countywide vote to ban voting machines and tabulators, says they are actively pursuing legal counsel to force the county to make the vote happen. The hand-count effort is being led by South Dakota Canvassing.

“We are seeking legal counsel to help us force a writ of mandamus,” said Braithwaite, referring to a maneuver where a judge could force the county to allow the election to go forward. “They broke the law.”

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